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Prax didn’t reply; he just rolled onto his side and shook It took Holden aanything else What else was there to say?

Holden took the ladder-lift up, planning to go to ops and read the detailed da He stopped when he got to the personnel deck and heard two people speaking He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he recognized Naonized the tone she used when she was having an intialley Feeling a little like a Peeping Toalley hatch until he couldHolden al in her tone stopped hi about hi

“Why does it have to be more?” the other person said Amos

“You almost beat a man to death with a can of chicken on Ganye for soht now”

“Do you trust htened

“More than anyone else,” A off to do so with us seems like he’s one twitch from a nervous breakdown”

“Well, he’s—”

“And you,” she continued “I depend on you I know you’ve always got my back, no matter what Except maybe not now, because the Amos I know doesn’t beat a skinny kid half to death, no matter howthehtened”

Holden felt the urge to go in, take her hand, hold her The need in her voice de pause Holden heard a scraping sound, followed by the sound of ar into coffee The sounds were so clear he could almost see it

“So, Balti to talk about the weather “Not a nice town You ever heard of squeezing? Squeeze trade? Hooker squeeze?”

“No Is it a drug?”

“No,” Ah “No, when you squeeze a hooker, you put her on the street until she gets knocked up, then peddle her to johns who get off on pregnant girls, then send her back to the streets after she pops the kid With procreation restrictions, banging pregnant girls is quite the kink”

“Squeeze?”

“Yeah, you know, ‘squeezing out puppies’? You never heard it called that?”

“Okay,” Naoust

“Those kids? They’re illegal, but they don’t just vanish, not right away,” Aot uses too”